Big plans to revamp Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market will be unveiled on Tuesday, with a proposal to replace the car park with a large public plaza and carve off a slice of land for development.

Melbourne City Council will announce five key concepts for the $250 million makeover, following initial community consultation.

Under the plan, the former Old Melbourne Cemetery and existing car park will be turned into a large public space. New basement car parks will be built beneath three northern sheds, along with possible storage facilities.

Parts of Queen Victoria Market may be replaced with a public plaza. Photo: Justin McManus

Queen Street at the eastern entrance will be closed to cars and a stretch of Franklin Street rerouted for more direct traffic flow to and from the city.

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Meanwhile, at the southern end of the site, an entire city block could be sold off to developers to help fund the rest of the redevelopment project.

The land will be given to the council by the state government and will likely become home to a mixed-used development.

Queen Victoria Market's interior. Photo: Justin McManus

Recent public consultation revealed a resistance to ''radical'' development of the market, as ''many participants struggled with the concept of change''.

Lord mayor Robert Doyle believed the announcement would be met with ''some sense of relief''.

''What we'll finish up with is what people recognise as Queen Victoria Market,'' he said.

Chairman of the market's board of management Paul Guerra said the redevelopment was ''the most difficult task in Melbourne today'', as they negotiated protecting the market's history and future viability.

Traders had favoured a multi-storey car park to a basement one as they believed it would be ''safe, cheaper and less disruptive''.

But Mr Guerra said the board was now convinced that underground parking was the best solution. He said the market should and would continue trading through the revamp, although there would be inevitable disruptions that would have to be managed.

''If nothing is done today it's going to mean that we're going to lose what we've got,'' he said.

This month the management team was visited by international market expert David O'Neil, who said the biggest challenge for the market was keeping its ''soul intact'' during the development.

The Philadelphia-based consultant said one of the site's key problems was the fact it turned into a ''dead zone'' when the market was not operating. He said an important reform was introducing permanent restaurants and attractions around the market precinct, that would operate 24/7.

Many details and costs of the proposals remain unknown, with a second phase of consultation beginning on Tuesday to guide a draft master plan to be released later this year.

Cr Doyle said he imagined the new public plaza being a ''large green space'' where people could relax. The remains of about 6000 people buried at the cemetery lie under the car park and Cr Doyle said he did not think it was right to cover this significant site in asphalt.

13 comments so far

Hmmm... Bringing in another consultant from overseas to ruin our Victorian heritage... Leave it alone. Why do things have to operate 24/7, this is not Las Vegas. Parts of this city have been ruined with no consideration to preserve what makes the city 0f Melbourne unique. Don't stuff this one up Mr Doyle! Enough is enough!

Commenter

T.H, port Melbourne

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 7:01AM

+1.Yes to create yet more empty restaurant space that will whither and become unutilised just like Docklands and half a dozen other developments. Talk about cargo cult. Heres an idea, there are some wonderful sheds that belonged to the long gone wholesale markets - convert them to something imaginative like a revolving artists space where our up and coming you artists can display their works for a month at a time (and no I am not an artist nor connected with them). That way it becomes a true community space and actrually may become a tourist attraction in tandem with the market and attract more people up that end - instead of dead restaurant space when we have restaurants everywhere aready - and high rise iverseas student ghetto shoebox apartments. Artist space and more parkland.

Commenter

Andrew

Location

Elsternwick

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 8:55AM

I totally agree - what we don't need is an overseas consultant to tell us the problem is the mkt isn't a 24/7 zone!! Since when did a great mkt have to be 24/7? Adding permanent restaurants and other shops open every day and night by definition substantially change the character away from what the mkt is famous and loved for!

Commenter

LachlanC

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 9:27AM

Just leave it alone - it's not yours, it's ours. And it's not a "precinct" (man, I'm over "precincts"), it's something that exists that you haven't ruined yet and it's part of why Melbourne is fantastic.

Also - what the market really could do with would be less parking and encouraging people to use the rather awesome public transport that surrounds the market - 55 tram, 19 tram, 57 tram, Flagstaff station

Commenter

Mattoxic

Location

Mont Albert

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 10:20AM

As long as the Bratwurst, Borek shops and American Donut Van stay... everything is OK!

Commenter

Tuesday is Market Day

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 7:06AM

Protecting the Market's history should be paramount.I hope the archaeologists are in on all of this if there is any disturbance at all. As mentioned, there is a nineteenth-century cemetery somewhere in the area (Quaker I think) of the car-park, which must be protected. Government, local and state, always lusting after the money they can get for development sites, don't have the best record when it comes to protecting our heritage. They would rather see more apartments wouldn't they? So close to RMIT and Melbourne University. They could then fill all these apartments with overseas students and make a fortune. Don't let them get away with it! Don't let Melbourne City Council destroy Melbourne's soul.

Commenter

Pluto

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 7:23AM

The only thing I would do to improve the Vic Market would be to get rid of that South American busking outfit that's been there for far too long. Flutes of the Andes free zone forever.

Commenter

Trashman

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 7:53AM

Here we go again., Selling the family silver for short term gain then regret it for the next 100 years. Here is an orginal plan, keep the land they want to sell and incorporate it into a big city park that they already are planning. Then, with all those obsence high rise ghettos, I mean apartment towers, you have some green space top absorb their residents. Why do we always have to sell, sell, sell public land for no benefit except to create yet another windswept tower block. It shows how shallow and distinct lack of imagination we have both at State and Local council level.

Commenter

Andrew

Location

Elsternwick

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 8:49AM

Surely the only reason anyone wants to do anything to it is to make their rich mates richer - otherwise maintenace and occasional renovation is all that's required - don't put the Cart before the Doyle.

Commenter

Christopher

Location

State in Mothballs

Date and time

April 22, 2014, 8:52AM

We have to stop this! The Vic Market is fantastic as it is. We don't need a 24/7 plaza, or an underground carpark. Just leave it alone.